Archive for April, 2022

Tuesday, April 19th, 2022

TinyCat’s April Library of the Month: The Milwaukee Waukesha Beekeepers Association

Spring is in the air (at least for the Northern Hemisphere), so it’s a great time to think about our powerful pollinators! I had the pleasure of interviewing Jill Wickham, library volunteer and retired school librarian at the Milwaukee Waukesha Beekeepers Association (MWBA), for our featured library this month:

Who are you, and what is your mission—your “raison d’être”?

Our library is part of the Milwaukee Waukesha Beekeepers Association, a club in southeastern Wisconsin made up of beekeepers (beeks) and others who are interested in bees and beekeeping. The goal of our library is to support our members as they explore the hobby of beekeeping and expand their knowledge of beekeeping methods.  We own roughly 100 books covering areas of interest to our members; the books can be checked out during our monthly meetings. Our books cover the subjects of honeybee biology, beekeeping in general, queen rearing, overwintering and treating bee colonies, producing and marketing honey, pollinator friendly gardening, crafting with beeswax, as well as a small collection of children’s titles about bees. Club dues support the periodic purchase of new titles.

Tell us some interesting things about how your library supports the community.

Our members are often asked to present to various community groups, and often use our library resources during these presentations. We also donate honey from our club beeyard—we maintain about 15 hives as a club—to our local Hunger Task Force food bank.

What a worthy cause, for the bees and for the food bank! Speaking of your library’s resources, what are some of your favorite items in your collection?

My favorite title to recommend is Hilary Kearney‘s Queenspotting, a book that is both fun and educational for all age groups.   Also, two books by a Milwaukee author, Petra Ahnert, Beeswax Alchemy and Beehive Alchemy, which both contain DIY projects using beeswax, honey and propolis.

What’s a particular challenge your library experiences?

Our club members have varying degrees of experience and a variety of beekeeping philosophies. If you ask 10 beekeepers the same question, you’ll get 11 answers! So, it’s a challenge to provide materials covering all levels of interest, experience and philosophies.

What is your favorite thing about TinyCat, and what’s something you’d love to see implemented/developed?

I love how easy it is to add titles from LibraryThing and how visual our online TinyCat catalog is. I’d like to be able to add more than one copy to the same bib record, and I’d like to be able to generate emailed overdue notices right from TinyCat or LibraryThing.

Great feedback! While we don’t yet have copies management, we’ll be sure to announce any changes on that front. As for overdue notices, you can automate those from your Patron Email Reminder Settings at https://www.librarycat.org/admin/settings/circsettings. Hope this helps!

Want to learn more about MWBA? Visit their website at http://mwbeekeepers.org/, join their Facebook Group, or explore their full TinyCat collection here.


To read up on TinyCat’s previous Libraries of the Month, visit the TinyCat Post archive here.

Want to be considered for TinyCat’s Library of the Month? Send us a Tweet @TinyCat_lib or email Kristi at kristi@librarything.com.

Labels: libraries, Library of the Month, TinyCat

Tuesday, April 5th, 2022

Happy 6th Birthday to TinyCat!

Today marks TinyCat’s 6th year of giving small libraries a sleek, user-friendly, and affordable way to manage and share their collections online, all powered by LibraryThing. Happy Birthday to us!

We’ve had the pleasure of cultivating relationships and community with thousands of libraries over the years. (Check out some of our latest Libraries of the Month on the blog.) From schools and classrooms to churches, arts organizations, local clubs, human rights groups, free libraries in underserved communities, and more, we’d like to thank everyone who’s adopted a TinyCat of their own! Of course this means we have a few gifts for you all this month to mark the occasion.

Store Sale…

For the next month until Friday, May 6, we’re running a major sale on all of our CueCat scanners, barcode labels, and TinyCat merch in the LibraryThing Store. Be sure to take advantage of the deals and stock up this month while you can: https://www.librarything.com/more/store.

...and a Surprise!

We’ll have an adorable surprise for you later this month, and a surprise giveaway for both new and existing TinyCat subscribers—well, a surprise in the sense that you can’t pinpoint* what the giveaway is, yet—so stay tuned on the blog and on our Twitter page for details: https://twitter.com/TinyCat_lib.

Come and join the celebratory thread in the TinyCat Group for some happy birthday wishes, and thanks for another great year!

*Hint hint: can you take a guess at the surprise we have in store for you?

Labels: birthday, libraries, sale, TinyCat

Monday, April 4th, 2022

April 2022 Early Reviewers Batch Is Live!

Win free books from the April 2022 batch of Early Reviewer titles! We’ve got 175 books this month, and a grand total of 3,915 copies to give out. Which books are you hoping to snag this month? Come tell us on Talk.

If you haven’t already, sign up for Early Reviewers. If you’ve already signed up, please check your mailing/email address and make sure they’re correct.

» Request books here!

The deadline to request a copy is Monday, April 25th at 6PM EDT.

Eligibility: Publishers do things country-by-country. This month we have publishers who can send books to the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Spain, Greece, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Finland and more. Make sure to check the message on each book to see if it can be sent to your country.

Bad EminenceHer Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to BeMaybe It's Me: On Being the Wrong Kind of WomanThe Zee FilesThe Littlest AirplaneAlaska is for the Birds! Fourteen Favorite Feathered FriendsSleepwalk: A NovelSeven Brief Lessons on LanguageDroll TalesMy Body Is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the ChurchA Botanist's Guide to Parties and PoisonsThe Bar at Twilight: StoriesAmong Animals 3: The Lives of Animals and Humans in Contemporary Short FictionFeverOn the BrinkMy Father's Smokehouse: Stories and Recipes from FishcampWake, Sleepy One: California Poppies and the Super BloomThe Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. KipCritical AllianceFuture SkinnyWhy Do the Nations Rage?: The Demonic Origin of NationalismSuch a Mind As This: A Biblical-Theological Study of Thinking in the Old TestamentFight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace Throughout Holy WeekThe Ghosts of Walter CrockettHerrick's EndDark CountryA Perfect CopyAdrift in StarlightOn These Wicked ShoresMer and HerThe Choir of CricketsDeath at the ManorTwo Brown DotsField Notes from the Flood ZoneUseful JunkCasual ConversationThe Phone in the FishbowlAnd Time Stopped: Dimension 9Dark Age Monarch: The Reign of King ArthurThe Running WolfJunker BluesWays the World Could EndTali Nohkati Part II: A Piece of Earth Under the StarsEverything Here Belongs to YouFerociousBlack RockKilling the ButterflyPocket Guide to Glam RockSingapore 52The Happening at BessbrookChambers of the Heart: Speculative StoriesThe NocturnalsA Healer's PromiseSoul Doctoring: Heal Yourself, Heal the PlanetIf this document should surviveDarkness to LightSeven Paradigm ShiftsTime Travelling to 1972: Reliving a Very Special YearL. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 38When Earth Shall Be No MoreDavid, I Knew You Would ComeDavid, I Knew You Would ComeMiss, Can I Speak to You?: Ten Everyday Conversations with Young People Asking for Help with Issues Important to ThemDragged into the Light: Truthers, Reptilians, Super Soldiers and Death Inside an Online CultGroup Six and the River of Water and BrimstoneIn CommonRiver of AshesThe Ultimate Off-Road Driver's GuideLS Gen III Engine Wiring Systems: 1997-2007Cunning Linguists: Language, Literature, and LecheryO Beautiful Dust: Walking the Wilderness Toward Common PrayerNo ExcusesThe Third ForceHe Spoke: A Memoir of GraceCounting Spoons: A Memoir of Heroin, Heartache, and HopeMore of Him, Less of Me: Living a Christ-Centered Life in a Me-Centered WorldTill a Better WorldTruth That Sets Us FreeThe Spirituality in Science: Understanding the Spirituality in Science from the Primitive Days of the Bible and the Religions of the Time Will Free Anyone from the Shackles of ReligionAshes of the FirebirdRelativityThe Last PrincessThe Haunting of Crimshaw ManorRefractionThe Perfect CandidateThe Entropy of LossWaverly LakeThe Shadow's HeirBad Girls Drink BloodFire Magic & Ice CreamDirty Little MiseryThe House of Many Souls: A Study Guide to Pursue Your Relationship in God for Single Mothers and Young AdultsDeclutter: Cleaning Out Your Spiritual BasementThe Agent and The OutlawStronger Than PassionBeautifully BrokenBeyond Freedom: School of MinistryMas Alla de Libertad: Escuela de Ministerio“La Note Bleue” – A Mad Chase to SanityFlorilla: A Pinelands RomanceMath Practice Tests for the ACTFinancial Management Essentials You Always Wanted to Know: 5th EditionPractice Tests for the SATShadow: Run, But You Can't HideShadow: Run, But You Can't HideThe Fallen StonesStar of DarknessThe Devil's TrillCompromisedGambling with MurderYou Make Me Sick... LiterallyFortunate SonWishlessSlash-Her: An Anthology of Women In HorrorIll ShadowsGravenhamRare Encounter: A War NovelEveryone Is an Entrepreneur: Selling Economic Self-Determination in a Post-Soviet WorldThe Devil's TrillThe King's DruidDead Man Dancing: A Handbook Of Stroke Survival & RecoveryDeath on the Istanbul ExpressThe Memory of SydneyDeath on the Istanbul ExpressDeath in ParisDeath in ParisThe BondThe Hive QueenThe Voinico's DaughterEl Puente de los Cuervos Vol. IContemporary Currents and Historical EddiesHarriet: A Jane Austen VariationThe Billionaire's SecretThe Model SpyXenure Station TrilogyThe Last NehisiThe Poetic PacificRise of MagicPoetic Potential: Sparking Change & Empowerment Through PoetryA Revolution of the MindBiblical Bedtime Stories For Kids: Old Testament Amazing Moments; Pointing Your Children To God, Ages 4 - 8Biblical Bedtime Stories For Kids: Old Testament Amazing Moments; Pointing Your Children To God, Ages 4-8Biblical Questions and Answers for Smart Kids: Quizzes Focused on the Book of Genesis to Help Your Children Grow and Learn about God – Who He Is, His Love, and His Relationship with HumanityBiblical Questions and Answers for Smart Kids: Quizzes Focused on the Book of Genesis to Help Your Children Grow and Learn about God – Who He Is, His Love, and His Relationship with HumanityBiblical Bedtime Stories For Kids Coloring Book: 113 Old Testament Amazing Moments; Pointing Your Children To God, Ages 4-8The MuseThe Secrets of MarsOn A Blue MoonStorm of PassionPresent Peace: A Poetry CollectionIntroduction to the Whole Food Plant Based Lifestyle to Restore Your Health, How 5 Healthy Habits Can Transform Your Life, Regain Your Mind & Body, and Reward You with Youthful LongevityRise: Poetry for Lovers and ThinkersIntroduction to the Whole Food Plant Based Lifestyle to Restore Your Health, How 5 Healthy Habits Can Transform Your Life, Regain Your Mind & Body, and Reward You with Youthful LongevityDon't Believe Everything You Think: Why Your Thinking Is The Beginning & End Of SufferingDistorted PerceptionDistorted PerceptionHalf on the Other Side: How Ancient Spiritual Techniques Helped Me Deal with Substance Abuse, Depression, Sexuality, Gender, and LoveSpirit WomenSomeone To Catch My TeardropsLove, Not Hate: A Christian StudyThe Ballad of Billy McFee: A Sea Shanty to Read or SingThe AnniversaryThe Ballad of Billy McFee: A Sea Shanty to Read or SingStreams of SpeculationTides of AdventureHooker AvenueDarkwitchRuthlessHIVERemembering StardustRemembering StardustWhy Do the Nations Rage?: The Demonic Origin of NationalismSuch a Mind As This: A Biblical-Theological Study of Thinking in the Old TestamentThe Overlap Life: Rethinking Every Second of Your Life in Light of EternityThe Overlap Life: Rethinking Every Second of Your Life in Light of Eternity

Thanks to all the publishers participating this month!

Alaska Northwest Books And Other Stories Arabelle Publishing
Ashland Creek Press Beaufort Books Bellevue Literary Press
Bethany House BHC Press Black Rose Writing
BOA Editions, Ltd. Brazos Press CarTech Books
Christopher Matthews Publishing City Owl Press Consortium Book Sales and Distribution
Crooked Lane Books Czidor Lore, LLC Delphinium Books
First Steps Publishing Funlighter Hub Galaxy Press
Greywood Bay Henry Holt and Company Heritage Books
Hot Tree Publishing Hybrid Sequence Media Islandport Press
John Ott Lakeview Publications New Smut Project
NewCon Press Niv Publishing Pioneer Publishing
Plant Based Press Plexus Publishing, Inc. Poolbeg Press
PublishNation Red Planet Books Revell
Rootstock Publishing Secant Publishing Small Stations Press
Squirrel House Publishing Tiny Fox Press Transformation Media Books
Turner Publishing Vestige Vesuvian Books
Vibrant Publishers West Margin Press

Labels: early reviewers, LTER